Since I'm a professional communicator, I think I instinctively cling to doing what I do best, even in times of crisis and turmoil.

A Democrat who had been JFK's Secretary of the Navy, Connally believed that as many as 20 million Democrats would cross over to vote for Nixon because George McGovern wasn't qualified to lead the nation, particularly because of his proposals for military cutbacks.

Let me get this straight: I can't defend the military because I didn't serve. So does that mean I can't support police officers or firefighters because I've never been one? How about teachers? Can I support them since I've never taught a class before?

The George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin affair is one of the most important and clarifying moments in American history.

An English journalist called Michael Viney told me when I was 25, that I would write well if I cared a lot what I was writing about. That worked. I went home that day and wrote about parents not understanding their children as well as we teachers did, and it was published the very next week.

I always performed when I was a child. My parents got very annoyed, because my brother and I had our little bedrooms upstairs, and I would plaster the house with posters with arrows pointing upstairs.

A mother cooking exclusively for her child might be preparing just rice and buttermilk, but it will be immensely tasty. Fast food, on the other hand, may be very tasty, but it has not been prepared exclusively for you, you see.

As you get older, the cliches of life ring true. It's the simple things that matter most: your family, the people you love, your health and sanity.